The Parterre of fiction, poetry, history [&c.].

LONDON:

PRINTED BY MANNING AND SMITHSON,

IVY LANE, PATERNOSTER-ROW

“Oh Proserpina !
For the Flowers now, that, frighted, thou let'st fall
From Dis's wagon! Daffodils
That come before the Swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; Violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath ; pale Primroses,
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phæbus in his strength ; bold Oxlips and
The Crown Imperial ; Lilies of all kinds,
The Flower-de-Luce being one. Come take your flowers ;
Methinks I play as I have seen them do
In Whitsun Pastorals.”—The Winter's Tale.

"FULL, as the bee of thyme,"* the Second Volume of the Parterre seeks its place on the rosewood work-table, and the oaken library shelf.

It would be worse than foolish, to recite its various pleas for admission into those graceful sanctuaries—the study and the withdrawingroom; since those who shut their eyes upon the superficial excellences of paper, type, and embellishment, can no more be expected to enjoy the literary treasures they illustrate, than the man, who is too idle or too dull to admire the flowers of nature's carpet, would be tempted to scrutinize the ore and jewels of the mine below.

Demosthenes, in the zenith of his popularity, is said to have exclaimed (and perhaps with more bitterness than met the ear), “Oh ye Athenians, how hard do I labour to obtain your praise !” Little do those who with indifference take up, and, with indolent eye, peruse the lucubrations of the Periodical, reflect upon the care, the consideration, the taste, the talent, the research, which, gathering like Genii around the midnight lamp of intellectual toil, have contributed their aid to the composition of a single paper! How often hath the wearied hand laid down and resumed the pen, how often hath enthusiasm (alas! perhaps necessity) repulsed the invader Sleep, in the production of a

* Herrick

piece, which the reader lazily skims as he stirs his chocolate and marmalades his white French roll; or devours, between cool sips of claret, and fragments of short biscuit!

The raiment of the modern Minerva, is absolutely crawling with cheap periodicals; but among the trash with which it is infested, it is cheering to observe gems of such water, as Leigh Hunt's London Journal, and Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, with a few others of a similar stamp:

With regard to the Parterre-hers was no obscure origin, holding forth vast promises of future improvement, to atone for incipient meanness; neither was it an ostentatious commencement, miserably falsified by the poverty she betrayed as she proceeded—a golden portico to a swineherd's cabin, a Parian frontispiece to a freebooter's cave.

She started forth at the invocation of Genius, and with modest dignity assumed the grade to which her grace and quality entitled her, on the steps of Fame's Temple. And if to impart information, or afford amusement, be an excellence that claims notice and deserves reward ; if the Tale that beguiles the vacant hour, the Essay that draws from the treasure-house of Mind, things old and new, or the Poetry that strikes the true chords of the heart, be as pleasant in perusal as they were painful in composition; then, courteous Public! enter our garden. This is a gala day. Sit by the fountains, for they refresh these glowing airs ; lie along the grass-plats, for they are thickly starred with daisies ; go--dream in the arbours, for they are of impenetrable shade; pluck the flowers, for só shall they be most honoured.

We have a welcome for every hand, a garland for every brow! but of roses, and myrtle, and laurel, and lilies, shall his chaplet be, who will plant here a flower of his own, that shall add a new odour, a fine colour, and a fresh lustré to the Parterre! Come then, for

Here be woods as green
As any; air likewise, as fresh and sweet,
As where smooth Zephyrus plays on the fleet
Face of the curled streams, with flowers as many
As the young Spring gives, and as choice as any;
Here be all new delights, cool streams and wells,
Arbours o'ergrown with woodbines ; caves and dells
Choose where thou wilt.*

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